Jesse Reno
Jesse Wilford Reno (born August 4, 1861 in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , † June 2, 1947 in New York ) was an American engineer. In 1891 he developed the predecessor of today's escalator , which he presented to the public in September 1896 in a park in Coney Island ( Long Island ). Around 7500 spectators were lifted up the two and a half meters during the two-week display.
Life
Live and act
Jesse Reno was born in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas, in 1861 . He spent his early years in the Middle South and the Southern States . At the age of 16 he and his family moved to Americus , Georgia , where he made his first plans for his "inclined staircase". In 1883 he graduated from Lehigh University in engineering and wrote his thesis on the Hudson River Tunnel. After graduation, he worked for a mining company in Colorado and later for an electricity company. Due to the technological boom of that time and his great urge to research, he made the decision to go to New York , where on March 15, 1892 he applied for his first patent for an electric motor-driven staircase. He had built a staircase out of an endless belt covered with strips of wood and laid at an angle, and presented it to the public for the first time in 1896 (see below). Several years earlier, on March 9, 1859, an escalator-like development was patented by Nathan Ames of Saugus in Essex County , Massachusetts , but he never built it.
death
Reno died in New York in 1947. Some of the inclined elevators he designed were still in service in parts of America until the 1990s.
Inclined stairs
The endless conveyor at Coney Island was developed when Reno was hired to design a subway. In early 1896, he presented his plans for an inclined elevator to transport people. His plans were rejected, but his idea survived. Many of the breakthrough features of the inclined elevator are still used in escalators today, such as the rubber-covered handrail. Reno also developed a system that prevented objects or legs from getting stuck in the stairs. In the five years after his staircase was shown in Coney Island, his invention was installed in numerous shops and subway stations. In 1902, he founded Reno Electric Stairways and Conveyors, Ltd, which Otis Elevators bought ten years later. Based on Reno's idea, the company had further developed the moving elevator into a moving staircase and called it an escalator.
family
Reno's ancestors were called Renault and immigrated from France in 1770. Jesse Reno was one of five children of Mary Blanes Cross and Union General Jesse Lee Reno (1823-1862), who died in the Battle of South Mountain during the Civil War . His father became the namesake of Reno , Nevada.
Web links
- Elevator Museum with picture
- Biography with pictures on the website of Lehigh University (English)
- History of the escalator
- Timeline of the invention of the escalator
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.answers.com/topic/jesse-w-reno
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/escalator.htm
- ^ West Virginia Division of Culture and History
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reno, Jesse |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Reno, Jesse Wilford (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American engineer, inventor of the predecessor of the escalator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th August 1861 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fort Leavenworth , Kansas |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 2, 1947 |
| Place of death | New York City |